The Good, the Bad, and the Goofy

Gr 3-5, The magic book is at again, only this Fred, Joe, and Sam are galloping to the Wild West. Join this zaney adventure of three boys and one magic book that transports them back in time. What will happen when they are kidnapped by Cheyenne Indians, or when they realize they’re about to be in the middle of Custer’s Last Stand? Fred, Joe, and Sam have done this whole weird time travelling thing before and have a few more tricks up their sleeves. Humourous, wacky, and tongue-in-cheek fun much like anything Scieszka writes it will be well loved. There are also black and white illustrations throughout the chapters that pair well with the text on the page.

This book is the third in the Time Warp Trio Series by Jon Scieszka. In all of the Time Warp Trio books we follow Joe, Fred, and Sam travel back in time or to the future via a magic book. The book was a gift from Sam's uncle who is a magician. Of course no explination on how to use the book was given, so each book offers an adventure to an unexpected destination.

In The Good, The Bad, and the Goofy the boys travel back in time to be cowboys in the old Wild West. The major theme for the story is to compare what cowboys and native americans were really like to the characatures that the boys had seen in an old Western movie.

As usually, Jon Scieszka continues to entertain readers of all ages with the injection of his very funny sense of show more humor. This is keeping in style with his other books like Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales. show less

Summary

Joe, Sam and Fred embark on a Cowboy adventure as they magically travelled back in time after chanting spells from a magic book. They encountered stampedes in a desert, thunderstorm, being captured by Indians and finally were almost scalped by them. Thankfully they were saved by the old, kind Indian Chief who returned to them their magic book. They were able to find the spell to take them back to their time and resume life as usual.

Critique

This book is an exciting adventure giving you a peek into the mind and imagination of children who are curious about history and think of themselves as the heroes who would save the day. There are some instances in the book where magic is used although it was not the main focus. It may not be show more appropriate to use in a classroom for that reason as some families may be offended by the use of magic.

Prompts

P3. Why were the boys arguing about the details of the movie they watched?
P12. Predict what will happen when the stampede is over.

Mini Lesson

The main characters went on an adventure back in time in a place they learned about in history. Ask students to imagine themselves travel back in time to a history lesson we are doing in class. Write about their experience. show less

I have had many people comment on my goal of 100 books to read this year, especially since I am finishing my masters and will be trying to find a job all in the first six months of the year. My response is generally always the same. I am a firm believer that you have to make time every day to read; even if it is only for five minutes. Additionally, as a teacher, I need to read the books that I am either offering to my students or that I know my students are reading. What use am I if I have no knowledge about what books are out there for my students. I don't know if you have noticed, but there are a TON of childrens books out there. I am both overwhelmed by the number of them and beyond excited to start tackling reading them!

The first show more childrens book that I read this year was The Good, the Bad, and the Goofy by Jon Scieszka. It was recommended to me by a teacher at the school that I am interning at this year. It was great. This is part of a series of books about three boys who travel through time. They do so through the use of a book that one boy received from his uncle. They really don't know how the book works which leads to being put in some interesting places in time. Once they have traveled, they can't return home until they find the book in the time period they are currently visiting. This book took them to the time of cowboys that culminated in a show down with General Custard. I'll stop there so that I don't give anything away. This is a great book for those students that love adventure and fantasy at the same time. I have several students that I have in mind for this already. It is a P guided reading book with a 620 lexile score. I can't wait to see what my students think. show less

Looking for books for my grandchildren. This was a fun quick read which might entice the youngest child, but it was much too short. I did like the poetry in the book.

Looking for books for my grandchildren. This was a fun quick read which might entice the youngest child, but it was much too short. I did like the poetry in the book.

This is a great book to encourage boys to read. This book tells about some history facts.

Three boys use a magic book to travel back in time. Like most boys, they want to become cowboys and fight the Indians. However, when they get back in time, they find out just how much stereotyping the television has done with cowboys and Indians. The boys do however have a wonderful adventure before returning home.